1940s Gibson L-50 Carved-Top Archtop Guitar (Refin Top)

Overview: This L-50 had me guessing a bit when it came in. I had it pegged as late-'30s at a glance based on the tuners and general cut but the F-holes have the larger, '40s-style round ends and wider middles. The top is refinished and you can see a bit of the old, dark sunburst left at the edges here and there. It has a carved maple back with the craziest amount of figure I've seen on an L-50 yet. There's no factory order number. The bridge is of the '50s style with the brass sleeves that fit into the saddle's post-holes. The inlaid, chubby Gibson logo in the headstock definitely looks '40s and wartime at that.

My guesstimate here is that this guy is likely a '41 or '42, just before or just into the war and still using nicer fittings (I like that tailpiece and the tuners are classy).

So -- the important things? It sounds excellent and plays like a ding-dong champ, thanks to a fresh refret from Jacobi. It's also a classy-looking rig. You get the deep, walnuty-brown-dark stain on the back and sides and a yellowing, poppy natural look on the top. Jazz, baby!

Repairs included: Jacobi fixed a few wonky seams and binding issues and then planed the fretboard and refretted it. The bridge height and neck angle was good but there was a pretty hefty ski-jump/mild s-curve in the fretboard from frets 10-onwards that he took out. It's playing spot-on and is ready to go.

• Weight: 4 lbs 11 oz
• Scale length: 24 3/4"
• Nut width: 1 11/16"
• Neck shape: medium-full soft V
• Board radius: 10"
• Depth at first fret: 0.92"
• Depth at seventh fret: 0.99"
• Body width: 16 1/8"
• Body depth: 3 1/4"
• Top wood: solid carved spruce
• Back & sides wood: solid very curly maple carved back, solid maple sides
• Bracing type: tonebar
• Bridge: rosewood
• Fretboard: rosewood
• Neck wood: mahogany
• Action height at 12th fret: 3/32” bass 1/16” treble (fast, spot-on)
• String gauges: 54w-12 lights
• Truss rod: adjustable
• Neck relief: straight
• Fret style: modern medium/slightly narrower

Condition notes: The top has been refinished (a long time ago) and there are two filled small screwholes just in front of the bridge (likely from pickup-mounting). There are light scuffs and scratches here and there throughout and the finish has weather-checked throughout as well. The binding is a little scalloped/wonky at the back edge near the tailpiece area but it's really hard to notice as it's so slight. This was due to some seams glued-up not-perfectly in the past (hey, par for the course on an old Gibson archtop). It has a strap button added to the side of the heel.

It comes with: It has an older, non-original case.

Consignor tag: PKLD